Handcuffs
by animeandraia
Summary: Rei Kon has found the man he's looking for. Only he's not what Rei expected and things don't go according to what Rei had planned. Not that he really had a plan in the first place. [slash]


My only explanation for this is that I've been reading far too much of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. You all must now go read them. Start with One for the Money. I assure you you'll never regret it for they are some of the funniest books you can ever pick up.

I've also been reading a lot of gay fiction. Thus gay slang is invading my vocabulary more and more. If you get confused by anything ask in a review. I can answer it if you either leave your e-mail or a signed review.

Special dedication: Someone's having a birthday on May 5th and this goes out to her. Yes, the beloved Mourir is turning the ripe old age of 17 (I'm allowed to joke at this since I'm two years older). Happy birthday, hon. Hope it's a great one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade. However, the plot is mine and I'd appreciate if nobody copied it. Thank you.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

**Handcuffs**

-x-

The hustler was like a vampire under the street light with his pail, flawless skin. The bulb of the artificial moonlight flickered leaving him looking all the more sultry. This was the last place Rei wanted to be on a Tuesday at two in the morning. But his weeks of searching led him to this lonely street corner.

Sucking in a breath, Rei gathered his nerves and looked straight into the hooker's eyes. His breath caught and the butterflies went ballistic in his stomach. He wasn't ready for this job. He couldn't talk to this rich boy gone street hustler. Too bad the hustler didn't have bad nerves.

"Looking for something, Sunshine?" He put a hand on a slender hip.

Rei bit his tongue to keep from doing anything inappropriate. He was overtired, overworked and severely undersexed. "I'm looking for…"

The young man cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Kai Hiwatari?"

"At your service."

Oh the services he no doubt could provide…! "I work for…" Rei was having trouble thinking of why he was there. Currently his eyes were trying not to stare at the strip of skin displayed between Kai's shirt and pants.

Kai slid a hand across Rei's shoulder and began kissing Rei's neck. "You work for…?"

"My uncle's company," he struggled out.

"Good, keep going."

Rei's knees were getting weak. "Your grandfather died and you've gained a huge inheritance. It was my job to find you." It came out in a rush and he wasn't quite sure which words ran together.

Startled, Kai stepped back and stared blankly. "You're shitting me." It was more an accusation than anything.

"No." Rei dug into his messenger bag and pulled out a rumpled Xeroxed copy of the will and handed it to Kai.

He glanced over the papers then ripped them in half. "Funny joke, piss off." He was storming away and Rei had to run to catch him.

Gripping Kai's arm tightly Rei spun him around. "I've been looking for you for nearly two months. If I don't bring you in, I won't get paid. If I'm not paid, then I lose my apartment. And if that happens, I'm going to make your life a fucking nightmare!"

"Right, and I care because?" Kai wrenched himself free and continued down the street.

"Fuck!" Rei muttered and began rifling through his bag. He had a pair of handcuffs somewhere. He pulled them out and smiled triumphantly. In a final desperate attempt, Rei grabbed Kai's right wrist and cuffed him to his own left. "Ha!"

A switchblade appeared in Kai's left hand. "Key." He smiled.

"Shit," Rei muttered as he dug through his bag. Producing the small silver key he offered it tentatively.

Kai reached for it with his right hand but with Rei clumsily attached to him he only managed to knock the key out of Rei's hand. For a spit second it was caught in the streetlight beam before falling into darkness. There was a metallic clink and they were both suddenly aware that the key had fallen down the storm drain.

The two locked eyes. They were stuck together now. Either until they could get to a locksmith or a spare key.

"My uncle has a spare key."

"You should see if he has a spare brain, you need a new one."

Rei jerked his left hand back to put on his hip but instead only pulled Kai closer.

"Fine, I'll go with you." Kai spat. "Not like I have any fucking choice now."

"Good!" Rei yelled back.

They stared each other down for a minute.

"Where to now?" Kai finally sighed.

"Uhh…" Rei hadn't thought this far ahead. He'd only worried about finding Kai. Frankly he'd been hoping to find a drugged out, brain-dead hustler that would happily show up the following morning for more drug money. A witty young man was the last thing he expected. "My place, I guess…"

"Fabulous." Kai sighed and gestured with his left hand. "Lead the way, Sunshine."

The walk was uneventful overall. A few motorists couldn't help but stare as they drove by. It wasn't every day that two attractive young men walked down the sidewalk handcuffed together. Rei was pretty sure it was a first anyway.

"This is a nice neighbourhood," Kai finally said as they approached Rei's building.

Rei nodded mutely. It was a wonderful neighbourhood with the exception that if you walked 2 blocks in the wrong direction you were in a pretty bad neighbourhood. The elevator ride up to Rei's apartment was completely uneventful and they shuffled in his front door without saying anything.

They stood awkwardly in the entrance to Rei's apartment after kicking their shoes off. Rei was slightly uncomfortable with the fact he was going to share his bed with a practical stranger. Kai on the other hand didn't seem very phased by any of this. Rei was growing frustrated with the other's neutrality. "You could at least try to look annoyed or something."

Kai raised an eyebrow. "I've had worse. My grandfather hired a professional bounty hunter to bring me in once. Let me say, being shot is not a pleasant sensation." Kai rolled up his shirt sleeve to display a nasty scar.

"I don't have a gun."

"Good, I'd hate to have to carve you up with my knife."

Rei grimaced and led them into the kitchen. "Do you want anything before bed?"

"A cigarette, but I take it this is a non-smoking apartment?"

"Technically no, but I'm not letting you light up."

"Figured. I'm also assuming you're not interested in my services?"

"Also a no." Rei led Kai to the bedroom and crawled onto the bed. He was too tired to even consider changing. Not that he could change his shirt without ripping it off. "Good night," he muttered.

"Night."

Despite both of them being exhausted neither could fall asleep. Rei stared at the ceiling and began searching for animal shapes. It was going to be a long night.

-x-x-

It definitely wasn't one of Rei's kinder awakenings. His back was stiff and he wasn't really sure if he still had a left hand.

"I have to remember to never sleep in cuffs."

The strange voice jarred Rei more awake. "Mmm…?"

"As much as I'd like to let you sleep, Sunshine, I really need to piss. Unless you'd prefer me to just go on the floor."

"Ugh, no." Clumsily he followed Kai off the bed and over to his bathroom. He stopped at the door to let Kai go into the bathroom, thoughts still not fully processing in his head.

"I'm not some sort of super human that can urinate in a toilet several feet away. And unless you're super human you probably have to go as well.

"Right…" Rei rubbed his forehead with his right hand and thought about how he already hated the day. He was _never_ doing another favour for his uncle. Unless it was something simple like picking up laundry or putting a letter in the mail. On the bright side both of them were of them same gender, the situation would only be more awkward if one of them were female. Then again Kai was a hustler…

"So, are we going to eat or go to your uncle first, Sunshine?"

"My name's Rei, not Sunshine." Rei put his right hand on his hip.

Kai looked him up and down then smiled. "You certainly aren't this morning. Are you usually like this or has sleeping with a strange man put you in a poor state?"

"I'm not a morning person." He led them to the kitchen and tried to start a pot of coffee. Everything was made difficult because of the cuffs.

"You know, you could ask me to help instead of trying to wrench off my arm." Kai teased and Rei angrily thrust the coffee can at Kai. "I think you're going to need more than coffee."

Rei put his right hand on his hip and glared. "What are you implying? Do I need a good bout of sex? Maybe you'd like to service me here and now, is that it?"

"I was going to suggest a doughnut with chocolate glaze and rainbow sprinkles actually…"

"Oh." Rei deflated and returned to rubbing his aching temple.

"How about we have some juice and then go?" Kai didn't get a response so he moved to the fridge and surveyed the contents. Aside from a few condiments the fridge held a questionable head of cabbage. "Maybe we'll stop on the way…" With minimal interaction the two put on their shoes and headed in the direction of Rei's uncle's office. It was a small brick building shoved between an adult video store and a golf shop. In Rei's eyes the law office was the one most out of place. Golf was a very sexual sport after all, for it was all about putting balls in a hole.

All eyes turned to Rei when he entered. His uncle Lian was casually leaning against Rei's desk talking to Yin. Originally Rei was hired as a secretary and Yin as a filing girl. But when the opportunity to look for a young man that was looking at a huge inheritance, Rei jumped at the chance to get some adventure in his life.

"Damn, you had sex and lost the keys to the cuffs?" Yin grinned and began digging through the desk in search of the spare key.

Frowning Rei turned to his uncle. "This is Kai Hiwatari."

Two mouths fell open as they stared at Kai. Even Lucy came out of her office to see what was up. Despite being scrutinised by three pairs of eyes Kai looked completely comfortable. Rei guessed selling your body did that to a person.

"Well… uhh…" Lian stood up straight and adjusted his tie. "Let's deal with this will, shall we?"

"Will?" Kai raised an eyebrow. "You mean the old man's really dead? I thought it was just another one of his schemes to get me home." He paused for a moment then said to Rei, "Sorry about all the trouble I caused you, Rei."

Rei couldn't believe this, he was going to scream. Yin unlocked the cuffs and Rei quickly collapsed on one of the overstuffed chairs in the waiting area. He didn't even watch as Kai disappeared into his uncle's office. It wasn't until Yin handed him a cup of coffee that Rei said anything. "I spent two months looking for that arrogant prick. He didn't believe me, held a knife to my throat and slept in my bed cuffed to me."

"At least he didn't shoot you."

Rei sighed. "I suppose…"

-x-

It was near noon when he was shaken awake. "Rei, you should go home."

There was a horrible kink in Rei's neck. His stomach growled. "Mmm. What time is it?"

"About 12. But take the day off. You look exhausted and according to Kai you didn't sleep very well."

At that mention of Kai's name Rei sprang to his feet. "Where is he?"

"He went home a few minutes ago." Lian leaned against Rei's desk and crossed his arms over his chest.

Rei cursed then added dejectedly. "He didn't say goodbye."

-x-

Grimly Rei inspected the charred lumps in the wok. The window was wide open and the warm wind plastered his damp hair to his face. At least the fire hadn't damaged anything aside from his fragile pride. As he was scraping the vegetable remains into trash there was a knock at the door. Mr. Kinomiya probably locked himself out of his apartment again.

Except when Rei opened the door he wasn't looking at the eccentric elderly man. Kai raised an eyebrow at the key Rei held out to him. Sensibility kicking in, Rei retracted his arm and pocketed the key. "The man across the hall always locks himself out of his apartment."

Kai nodded knowingly. "The girl next to me does that. She's a pretty bad meth addict though."

"How'd you get in?"

Kai gave a little shrug. "Some old man in a Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts let me in. I told him I was a friend of yours…" For the first time since their meeting Kai looked a little unnerved. "Then he told me that I had to treat you good or he'd use his 'leet kendo skills' on me. What the fuck is leet?"

Rei smiled faintly. "He's crazy. But very sweet. Kind of like a surrogate father to me…"

They stood in silence for a moment.

"Can I come in?" Kai finally asked.

Rei paused for a second before stepping aside. "Whatever."

Kai closed the door behind himself then began rummaging through his deep pockets. Finally he produced a slightly rumpled cheque. "I'm really sorry about inconveniencing you. Considering the circumstances you handled things quite well."

Blinking Rei took the cheque and looked at the amount. This led to a long chain of swearing in Chinese followed by a wide-eyed stare.

"I'm assuming that translates to thank you."

"I can't-"

"You can." Kai crossed his arms over his chest. "You need to fix up this place. I know crack heads with better beds and more food in their fridge." Rei opened his mouth to protest more but Kai caught him in a firm kiss. After Kai pulled away he smiled. "Plus I like you, Sunshine."

Sinking against the wall Rei put a hand to his temple. Normalcy was now a thing of the past. How was he supposed to explain to his friends the events of the last twenty-four hours?

Still smirking Kai put a hand under Rei's chin and tilted his head up. "You need some time to think things through. I'll see you around." After placing another quick kiss on Rei's lips and slipping his phone number into Rei's back pocket, he left.

Blankly Rei stared at the cheque. True this would keep his fridge stocked and buy more furniture but could he really accept such a gift? He'd rather have Kai stick around. He clasped a hand over his mouth as if he'd just yelled to a room of strangers that he was gay.

To snap him out of his stupor, his buzzer sounded. "Yah?" He muttered into the intercom.

"I think I left something on your bedside table last night. Could you let me up or go check?" Kai's voice sounded scratchy and far away.

"Come on up." He buzzed him in then tried to straighten himself up in the coat closet mirror. He placed the cheque on the chair by the door and placed Mr. Kinomiya's key on top of it. It seemed to take Kai forever to walk up the flight of stairs. Rei's nerves were flitting about his stomach like an epileptic hummingbird. At the knock Rei flung the door open.

Kai raised an eyebrow then smirked. Wordlessly he stepped into the apartment and slipped off his sneakers. Rei followed him to the bedroom. With a smile Kai picked up a bracelet of wooden beads. "I got it on a trip to China with my father."

Taking a closer look Rei gasped in surprise. "My village used to make those and sell them at the market."

"Does this one come from there?"

Gently Rei took the bracelet and turned it over in his hands. "It could have. A lot of small tribes in the area made bracelets like that." He slid the bracelet onto Kai's slender wrist and twined their fingers together.

"If I believed in fate then I'd say we were supposed to meet."

With a smile Rei responded, "Who's to say we weren't?"

Kai shrugged. "So you interested in dinner? Smells like yours fell through."

"Dinner would be nice."

"I know this great place that sells the best egg rolls in Japan. Of course, they deliver."

Rei twirled some of Kai's hair around a finger. "But then we have to wait for the delivery."

"Oh, I'm sure we can find something to do." Kai slid a hand under Rei's shirt and pulled him in for another kiss.

-x-x-

Rei was glad to finally be rid of his apartment. Never again would he gaze at the marred custard yellow walls. Nor would he have Lake Superior in his kitchen every few days from the fridge. He'd even call it a happy parting was Mr. Kinomiya not hugging him to death.

"Don't go getting in no trouble, ya hear?

"Alright, Mr. Kinomiya," Rei gasped.

"Give me a ring if you ever need anything."

"I will…"

"And…"

"I'll be fine." Rei gently pried the old man away and smiled brightly. "I'm an adult and completely capable of looking after myself."

"I know, little dude." Mr. Kinomiya wiped at the tears streaking down his face. "And if this boy treats you wrong, my grandson's always free."

"Grandpa!" Takao arrived just in time to hear the comment. "I told you, I have a girlfriend…"

"But I'd be proud to have two gay grandsons!"

After doing some muttering, Takao took Rei's hand and shook it. "Come visit or he's going to drive me insane by calling every day."

"Don't worry, I shall." Rei gave Takao a brief hug then picked up his last box of things and headed towards the waiting car.

Kai straightened when Rei got to the car. Kai opened the back door and muttered, "Took you long enough."

Playfully Rei smacked Kai on the back of the head. "I'm sorry, but I actually have feelings for other human beings."

"I have feelings for you," Kai protested.

"Yah, feelings of lust."

"Then why are you coming to live with me?" Kai placed a hand on the roof of the car and trapped Rei between the door and his arm.

"Because I'm foolish and in love." Rei grinned and wrapped his arms around Kai's neck. "You also have a working fridge."

'Good to know the fridge is a major pull." Kai rolled his eyes, gave Rei a quick kiss then walked to the driver's door. With a smile Rei closed the back door and got in shotgun.

Kai's apartment was six blocks away, in a more upscale neighbourhood. Much to Rei's surprise Kai headed in the opposite direction. After two blocks of driving they entered one of the not so nice neighbourhoods. Rei had an idea of what Kai was thinking but he still asked. "Where are we going?"

"To say goodbye to an old friend."

They rolled to a stop across from it. The street light was now broken and the curb was beginning to crumble. A twink, tweaked out in the flavour of the week now occupied the corner. Kai shifted into park and lit a cigarette. Rei caught Kai's wrist and laid claim to the cigarette, opened the window then took a long drag. With a smile Kai lit another.

After both of the cigarettes were burned out, Kai made a move for the gear shift but Rei caught his hand again. Rei leaned in and whispered, "Here's to a new life." They kissed again just as the other street lights began to flicker on.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-fin-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I had far too much fun writing this. ; First off I apologise for Takao's grandfather's atrocious dialogue. I love the character, hate his speech patterns.

Now for a little vocabulary lesson. A twink is a young, gay man (usually in late teens or early 20s) that looks boyish. Tweaked out is someone high on drugs. If you're a Queer as Folk follower, think Blake in season 1. I believe Emmett always calls twinks twinkies.

This is the closest to happily ever after you'll probably get from me. Revel in it. Now please leave your ravings, questions and criticisms in a coherent review. And I thank you all for reading.


End file.
